Thursday, December 27, 2012
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
From The Partisan Defense Committee
Workers Vanguard No. 1012 |
9 November 2012
|
Free the Class-War Prisoners!
27th Annual PDC Holiday Appeal
(Class-Struggle Defense Notes)
This year marks the 27th Holiday Appeal for class-war prisoners, those thrown behind bars for their opposition to racist capitalist oppression. The Partisan Defense Committee provides monthly stipends to 16 of these prisoners as well as holiday gifts for them and their families. This is a revival of the tradition of the early International Labor Defense (ILD) under its secretary and founder James P. Cannon. The stipends are a necessary expression of solidarity with the prisoners—a message that they are not forgotten.
Launching the ILD’s appeal for the prisoners, Cannon wrote, “The men in prison are still part of the living class movement” (“A Christmas Fund of our Own,” Daily Worker, 17 October 1927). Cannon noted that the stipends program “is a means of informing them that the workers of America have not forgotten their duty toward the men to whom we are all linked by bonds of solidarity.” This motivation inspires our program today. The PDC also continues to publicize the causes of the prisoners in the pages of Workers Vanguard, the PDC newsletter, Class-Struggle Defense Notes, and our Web site partisandefense.org. We provide subscriptions to WV and accompany the stipends with reports on the PDC’s work. In a recent letter, MOVE prisoner Eddie Africa wrote, “I received the letters and the money, thank you for both, it’s a good feeling to have friends remembering you with affection!”
The Holiday Appeal raises the funds for this vital program. The PDC provides $25 per month to the prisoners, and extra for their birthdays and during the holiday season. We would like to provide more. The prisoners generally use the funds for basic necessities: supplementing the inadequate prison diet, purchasing stamps and writing materials needed to maintain contact with family and comrades, and pursuing literary, artistic, musical and other pursuits to mollify a bit the living hell of prison. The costs of these have obviously grown, including the exponential growth in prison phone charges.
The capitalist rulers have made clear their continuing determination to slam the prison doors on those who stand in the way of brutal exploitation, imperialist depredations and racist oppression. We encourage WV readers, trade-union activists and fighters against racist oppression to dig deep for the class-war prisoners. The 16 class-war prisoners receiving stipends from the PDC are listed below:
* * *
Mumia Abu-Jamal is a former Black Panther Party spokesman, a well-known supporter of the MOVE organization and an award-winning journalist known as “the voice of the voiceless.” Last December the Philadelphia district attorney’s office announced it was dropping its longstanding efforts to execute America’s foremost class-war prisoner. While this brings to an end the legal lynching campaign, Mumia remains condemned to spend the rest of his life in prison with no chance of parole, despite overwhelming evidence of his innocence.
Mumia was framed up for the 1981 killing of Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner and was initially sentenced to death explicitly for his political views. Mountains of documentation proving his innocence, including the sworn confession of Arnold Beverly that he, not Mumia, shot and killed Faulkner, have been submitted to the courts. But from top to bottom, the courts have repeatedly refused to hear the exculpatory evidence.
The state authorities hope that with the transfer of Mumia from death row his cause will be forgotten and that he will rot in prison until he dies. This must not be Mumia’s fate. Fighters for Mumia’s freedom must link his cause to the class struggles of the multiracial proletariat. Trade unionists, opponents of the racist death penalty and fighters for black rights must continue the fight to free Mumia from “slow death” row in the racist dungeons of Pennsylvania.
Leonard Peltier is an internationally renowned class-war prisoner. Peltier’s incarceration for his activism in the American Indian Movement has come to symbolize this country’s racist repression of its native peoples, the survivors of centuries of genocidal oppression. Peltier’s frame-up for the 1975 deaths of two marauding FBI agents in what had become a war zone on the South Dakota Pine Ridge Reservation, shows what capitalist “justice” is all about. Although the lead government attorney has admitted, “We can’t prove who shot those agents,” and the courts have acknowledged blatant prosecutorial misconduct, the 68-year-old Peltier is still locked away. Peltier suffers from multiple serious medical conditions and is incarcerated far from his people and family. He is not scheduled to be reconsidered for parole for another 12 years!
Eight MOVE members—Chuck Africa, Michael Africa, Debbie Africa, Janet Africa, Janine Africa, Delbert Africa, Eddie Africa and Phil Africa—are in their 35th year of prison. They were sentenced to 30-100 years after the 8 August 1978 siege of their Philadelphia home by over 600 heavily armed cops, having been falsely convicted of killing a police officer who died in the cops’ own cross fire. In 1985, eleven of their MOVE family members, including five children, were massacred by Philly cops when a bomb was dropped on their living quarters. After more than three decades of unjust incarceration, these innocent prisoners are routinely turned down at parole hearings. None have been released.
Lynne Stewart is a radical lawyer sentenced to ten years for defending her client, a blind Egyptian cleric imprisoned for an alleged plot to blow up New York City landmarks in the early 1990s. For this advocate known for defense of Black Panthers, radical leftists and others reviled by the capitalist state, her sentence may well amount to a death sentence as she is 73 years old and suffers from breast cancer. Originally sentenced to 28 months, her resentencing more than quadrupled her prison time in a loud affirmation by the Obama administration that there will be no letup in the massive attack on democratic rights under the “war on terror.” This year her appeal of the onerous sentence was turned down.
Jaan Laaman and Thomas Manning are the two remaining anti-imperialist activists known as the Ohio 7 still in prison, convicted for their roles in a radical group that took credit for bank “expropriations” and bombings of symbols of U.S. imperialism, such as military and corporate offices, in the late 1970s and ’80s. Before their arrests in 1984 and 1985, the Ohio 7 were targets of massive manhunts. Their children were kidnapped at gunpoint by the Feds.
The Ohio 7’s politics were once shared by thousands of radicals during the Vietnam antiwar movement and by New Leftists who wrote off the possibility of winning the working class to a revolutionary program and saw themselves as an auxiliary of Third World liberation movements. But, like the Weathermen before them, the Ohio 7 were spurned by the “respectable” left. From a proletarian standpoint, the actions of these leftist activists against imperialism and racist injustice are not a crime. They should not have served a day in prison.
Ed Poindexter and Wopashitwe Mondo Eyen we Langa are former Black Panther supporters and leaders of the Omaha, Nebraska, National Committee to Combat Fascism. They were victims of the FBI’s deadly COINTELPRO operation under which 38 Black Panther Party members were killed and hundreds more imprisoned on frame-up charges. Poindexter and Mondo were railroaded to prison and sentenced to life for a 1970 explosion that killed a cop, and they have now spent more than 40 years behind bars. Nebraska courts have repeatedly denied Poindexter and Mondo new trials despite the fact that a crucial piece of evidence excluded from the original trial, a 911 audio tape long-suppressed by the FBI, proved that testimony of the state’s key witness was perjured.
Hugo Pinell, the last of the San Quentin 6 still in prison, has been in solitary isolation for more than four decades. He was a militant anti-racist leader of prison rights organizing along with George Jackson, his comrade and mentor, who was gunned down by prison guards in 1971. Despite numerous letters of support and no disciplinary write-ups for over 28 years, Pinell was again denied parole in 2009. Now in his 60s, Pinell continues to serve a life sentence at the notorious torture chamber, Pelican Bay Security Housing Unit in California, a focal point for hunger strikes against grotesquely inhuman conditions.
Send your contributions to: PDC, P.O. Box 99, Canal Street Station, New York, NY 10013; (212) 406-4252.
Monday, December 24, 2012
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.gif)
First, and in a class by himself, is Bradley
Manning:
Andy Worthington has spent many years now documenting
U.S. abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo, even as the Obama administration moved
"forward" past its promise to close Guantanamo. His work is unique and
invaluable. We hope we can get him to the U.S. again next month for the 11th
anniversary of Guantanamo. See 
Bush
regime went crazy with the USA PATRIOT Act. She went on to form the No
Guantanamos Project, bringing the challenge directly to U.S. communities to take
released prisoners from the prison, if they could not be released to their home
countries. Without her weekly newsletter, (
Communism Today
|
On
Saturday, December 8th, acclaimed author, political scientist, and Occupy
theorist Jodi Dean spoke in us in Boston on ideas found in her new book The
Communist Horizon (published by Verso Press), the talk was followed by a
discussion on the need for a rejuvenation of the idea and the project of
communism to meet the challenges and the crisis conditions of the 21st century.
The event was co-sponsored by Red Horzion, Encuentro Cinco, as well as The
Howard Zinn Memorial Lecture Series.
Jodi Dean on the Communist Horizon: Video 1 of
2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI4Y9KNZ87A
Jodi Dean on the Communist Horizon: Video 2 of
2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUyYfC524M0
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Friday,
December 14, 2012 VFP Issues Position Statement on SyriaVeterans For Peace urgently calls on the United States and NATO to cease all military activity in Syria, halt all U.S. and NATO shipments of weapons, and abandon all threats to further escalate the violence under which the people of Syria are suffering.NATO troops and missiles should be withdrawn from Turkey and other surrounding nations. U.S. ships should exit the Mediterranean. Veterans For Peace is an organization of veterans who draw upon their military experiences in working for the abolition of war. We have not entered into this work without consideration of many situations similar to the current one in Syria. <Full statement> Back to Top | |||
2012 Was the Year of the Drone in Afghanistan
- By Spencer Ackerman
- 12.06.12
- 12:24 PM
An armed MQ-9 Reaper drone taxis on an Afghanistan
runway, November 2007. The drones have been busier in Afghanistan in 2012 than
ever before. Photo: U.S. Air Force
The soldiers and marines are packing their bags. The pilots are sitting on the tarmac. But the armed robotic planes are busier than they’ve ever been: Revised U.S. military statistics show a much, much larger drone war in Afghanistan than anyone suspected.
Last month, military stats revealed that the U.S. had launched some 333 drone strikes in Afghanistan thus far in 2012. That made Afghanistan the epicenter of U.S. drone attacks — not Pakistan, not Yemen, not Somalia. But it turns out those stats were off, according to revised ones released by the Air Force on Thursday morning. There have actually been 447 drone strikes in Afghanistan this year. That means drone strikes represent 11.5 percent of the entire air war — up from about 5 percent last year.
Never before in Afghanistan have there been so many drone strikes. For the past three years, the strikes have never topped 300 annually, even during the height of the surge. Never mind 2014, when U.S. troops are supposed to take a diminished role in the war and focus largely on counterterrorism. Afghanistan’s past year, heavy on insurgent-hunting robots, shows that the war’s future has already been on display.
It’s not just that the drone war in Afghanistan is so big. It’s that the broader air war is winding down. As the chart above shows, the Air Force flew fewer intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions in 2012 than it did in 2011, although the number of spy missions in 2012 is still greater than in 2010 or 2009. This year has seen over 1,000 fewer aerial attacks, by manned and remotely piloted aircraft alike, than there were during the surge years of 2010 and 2011. Total sorties are even lower than their 2009 levels. The only exception to the downward slope: drone strikes.
That suggests a pattern that may endure through the next two years of troop reductions. As the humans leave, the robots take up the slack.
The U.S. and Afghanistan have begun negotiations on what a residual troop presence is supposed to look like. So far, it’s believed that the Pentagon wants to leave behind between 5,000 and 10,000 troops, to continue to train the Afghan military, hunt terrorists and generally ensure Afghanistan doesn’t collapse. And before the New Year, Gen. John Allen, the outgoing commander of the war, is supposed to recommend to President Obama how fast next year’s troop drawdowns ought to proceed. Pentagon officials insist nothing’s etched in stone.
But we might not have to wait for 2014 to see the future of the Afghanistan war. “We may well see the development of counterterrorism become more important as time goes on,” Allen told the Senate last year. This year proved Allen wasn’t blowing smoke. U.S. special operations forces underwent a major command overhaul and now operate out of a private base run by the company formerly known as Blackwater. Super-sizing the drone war is fully in line with that broader shift. This may have been the year of the drone in Afghanistan, but the drones aren’t going home any time soon.
- Related
- You Might Like
·
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·
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--------------------------------
Ann Wright
microann@yahoo.com
Facebook: http://www.www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=504291178
Twitter: annwright46
"Dissent: Voices of Conscience" www.voicesofconscience.com
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Untitled attachment 01086.txt 93 B |
7
Breaking: Just Released FBI Documents Reveal Secret Nationwide Occup
Sat Dec 22, 2012 5:45 pm (PST) . Posted by:
"smedleyvfp@massvfp.org"
Partnership
for Civil Justice
<http://www2.justiceonline.org/site/R?i=HYZ3hShZQgFk_sL-M7zYcw>
FBI documents just obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund
(PCJF) pursuant to the PCJF's Freedom of Information Act demands reveal
that from its inception, the FBI treated the Occupy movement as a
potential criminal and terrorist threat even though the agency
acknowledges in documents that organizers explicitly called for peaceful
protest and did "not condone the use of violence" at occupy protests.
The PCJF has obtained heavily redacted documents showing that FBI
offices and agents around the country were in high gear conducting
surveillance against the movement even as early as August 2011, a month
prior to the establishment of the OWS encampment in Zuccotti Park and
other Occupy actions around the country.
"This production, which we believe is just the tip of the iceberg, is a
window into the nationwide scope of the FBI's surveillance, monitoring,
and reporting on peaceful protestors organizing with the Occupy
movement," stated Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director of the
Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF). "These documents show that
the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are treating protests
against the corporate and banking structure of America as potential
criminal and terrorist activity. These documents also show these
federal agencies functioning as a de facto intelligence arm of Wall
Street and Corporate America."
"The documents are heavily redacted, and it is clear from the production
that the FBI is withholding far more material. We are filing an appeal
challenging this response and demanding full disclosure to the public of
the records of this operation," stated Heather Benno, staff attorney
with the PCJF.
* As early as August 19, 2011, the FBI in New York was meeting with
the New York Stock Exchange to discuss the Occupy Wall Street
protests that wouldn't start for another month. By September, prior
to the start of the OWS, the FBI was notifying businesses that they
might be the focus of an OWS protest.
* The FBI's Indianapolis division released a "Potential Criminal
Activity Alert" on September 15, 2011, even though they acknowledged
that no specific protest date had been scheduled in Indiana. The
documents show that the Indianapolis division of the FBI was
coordinating with "All Indiana State and Local Law Enforcement
Agencies," as well as the "Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center," the
FBI "Directorate of Intelligence" and other national FBI
coordinating mechanisms.
* Documents show the spying abuses of the FBI's "Campus Liaison
Program" in which the FBI in Albany and the Syracuse Joint Terrorism
Task Force disseminated information to "sixteen (16) different
campus police officials," and then "six (6) additional campus police
officials." Campus officials were in contact with the FBI for
information on OWS. A representative of the State University of New
York at Oswego contacted the FBI for information on the OWS protests
and reported to the FBI on the SUNY-Oswego Occupy encampment made up
of students and professors.
* Documents released show coordination between the FBI, Department of
Homeland Security and corporate America. They include a report by
the Domestic Security Alliance Council (DSAC), described by the
federal government as "a strategic partnership between the FBI, the
Department of Homeland Security and the private sector," discussing
the OWS protests at the West Coast ports to "raise awareness
concerning this type of criminal activity." The DSAC report shows
the nature of secret collaboration between American intelligence
agencies and their corporate clients - the document contains a
"handling notice" that the information is "meant for use primarily
within the corporate security community. Such messages shall not be
released in either written or oral form to the media, the general
public or other personnel..." (The DSAC document was also obtained
by the Northern California ACLU which has sought local FBI
surveillance files.)
* Naval Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS) reported to the DSAC on
the relationship between OWS and organized labor for the port
actions. The NCIS describes itself as "an elite worldwide federal
law enforcement organization" whose "mission is to investigate and
defeat criminal, terrorist, and foreign intelligence threats to the
United States Navy and Marine Corps ashore, afloat and in
cyberspace." The NCIS also assists with the transport of Guantanamo
prisoners.
* DSAC issued several tips to its corporate clients on "civil unrest"
which it defines as ranging from "small, organized rallies to
large-scale demonstrations and rioting." It advised to dress
conservatively, avoid political discussions and "avoid all large
gatherings related to civil issues. Even seemingly peaceful rallies
can spur violent activity or be met with resistance by security
forces. Bystanders may be arrested or harmed by security forces
using water cannons, tear gas or other measures to control crowds."
* The FBI in Anchorage reported from a Joint Terrorism Task Force
meeting of November 3, 2011, about Occupy activities in Anchorage.
* A port Facility Security Officer in Anchorage coordinated with the
FBI to attend the meeting of protestors and gain intelligence on the
planning of the port actions. He was advised to request the presence
of an Anchorage Police Department official to also attend the event.
The FBI Special Agent told the undercover private operative that he
would notify the Joint Terrorism Task Force and that he would
provide a point of contact at the Anchorage Police Department.
* The Jacksonville, Florida FBI prepared a Domestic Terrorism briefing
on the "spread of the Occupy Wall Street Movement" in October 2011.
The intelligence meeting discussed Occupy venues identifying
"Daytona, Gainesville and Ocala Resident Agency territories as
portions ...where some of the highest unemployment rates in Florida
continue to exist."
* The Tampa, Florida FBI "Domestic Terrorism" liaison participated
with the Tampa Police Department's monthly intelligence meeting in
which Occupy Lakeland, Occupy Polk County and Occupy St. Petersburg
were discussed. They reported on an individual "leading the Occupy
Tampa" and plans for travel to Gainesville for a protest planning
meeting, as well as on Veterans for Peace plans to protest at
MacDill Air Force Base.
* The Federal Reserve in Richmond appears to have had personnel
surveilling OWS planning. They were in contact with the FBI in
Richmond to "pass on information regarding the movement known as
occupy Wall Street." There were repeated communications "to pass on
updates of the events and decisions made during the small rallies
and the following information received from the Capital Police
Intelligence Unit through JTTF (Joint Terrorism Task Force)."
* The Virginia FBI was collecting intelligence on the OWS movement for
dissemination to the Virginia Fusion Center and other Intelligence
divisions.
* The Milwaukee division of the FBI was coordinating with the
Ashwaubenon Public Safety division in Green Bay Wisconsin regarding
Occupy.
* The Memphis FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force met to discuss
"domestic terrorism" threats, including, "Aryan Nations, Occupy Wall
Street, and Anonymous."
* The Birmingham, AL division of the FBI sent communications to HAZMAT
teams regarding the Occupy Wall Street movement.
* The Jackson, Mississippi division of the FBI attended a meeting of
the Bank Security Group in Biloxi, MS with multiple private banks
and the Biloxi Police Department, in which they discussed an
announced protest for "National Bad Bank Sit-In-Day" on December 7,
2011.
* The Denver, CO FBI and its Bank Fraud Working Group met and were
briefed on Occupy Wall Street in November 2011. Members of the
Working Group include private financial institutions and local area
law enforcement.
* Jackson, MS Joint Terrorism Task Force issued a "Counterterrorism
Preparedness" alert. This heavily redacted document includes the
description, "To document...the Occupy Wall Street Movement."
You can read the FBI - OWS documents here where we have uploaded them in
searchable format for public viewing.
<http://www2.justiceonline.org/site/R?i=yXNu2hggkS1sWlN28nAhCg>
The PCJF filed Freedom of Information Act demands with multiple federal
law enforcement agencies in the fall of 2011 as the Occupy crackdown
began. The FBI initially attempted to limit its search to only one
limited record keeping index. Recognizing this as a common tactic used
by the FBI to conduct an inadequate search, the PCJF pressed forward
demanding searches be performed of the FBI headquarters as well as FBI
field offices nationwide.
The PCJF will continue to push for public disclosure of the government's
spy files and will release documents as they are obtained.
<http://www2.justiceonline.org/site/R?i=HYZ3hShZQgFk_sL-M7zYcw>
FBI documents just obtained by the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund
(PCJF) pursuant to the PCJF's Freedom of Information Act demands reveal
that from its inception, the FBI treated the Occupy movement as a
potential criminal and terrorist threat even though the agency
acknowledges in documents that organizers explicitly called for peaceful
protest and did "not condone the use of violence" at occupy protests.
The PCJF has obtained heavily redacted documents showing that FBI
offices and agents around the country were in high gear conducting
surveillance against the movement even as early as August 2011, a month
prior to the establishment of the OWS encampment in Zuccotti Park and
other Occupy actions around the country.
"This production, which we believe is just the tip of the iceberg, is a
window into the nationwide scope of the FBI's surveillance, monitoring,
and reporting on peaceful protestors organizing with the Occupy
movement," stated Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director of the
Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF). "These documents show that
the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are treating protests
against the corporate and banking structure of America as potential
criminal and terrorist activity. These documents also show these
federal agencies functioning as a de facto intelligence arm of Wall
Street and Corporate America."
"The documents are heavily redacted, and it is clear from the production
that the FBI is withholding far more material. We are filing an appeal
challenging this response and demanding full disclosure to the public of
the records of this operation," stated Heather Benno, staff attorney
with the PCJF.
* As early as August 19, 2011, the FBI in New York was meeting with
the New York Stock Exchange to discuss the Occupy Wall Street
protests that wouldn't start for another month. By September, prior
to the start of the OWS, the FBI was notifying businesses that they
might be the focus of an OWS protest.
* The FBI's Indianapolis division released a "Potential Criminal
Activity Alert" on September 15, 2011, even though they acknowledged
that no specific protest date had been scheduled in Indiana. The
documents show that the Indianapolis division of the FBI was
coordinating with "All Indiana State and Local Law Enforcement
Agencies," as well as the "Indiana Intelligence Fusion Center," the
FBI "Directorate of Intelligence" and other national FBI
coordinating mechanisms.
* Documents show the spying abuses of the FBI's "Campus Liaison
Program" in which the FBI in Albany and the Syracuse Joint Terrorism
Task Force disseminated information to "sixteen (16) different
campus police officials," and then "six (6) additional campus police
officials." Campus officials were in contact with the FBI for
information on OWS. A representative of the State University of New
York at Oswego contacted the FBI for information on the OWS protests
and reported to the FBI on the SUNY-Oswego Occupy encampment made up
of students and professors.
* Documents released show coordination between the FBI, Department of
Homeland Security and corporate America. They include a report by
the Domestic Security Alliance Council (DSAC), described by the
federal government as "a strategic partnership between the FBI, the
Department of Homeland Security and the private sector," discussing
the OWS protests at the West Coast ports to "raise awareness
concerning this type of criminal activity." The DSAC report shows
the nature of secret collaboration between American intelligence
agencies and their corporate clients - the document contains a
"handling notice" that the information is "meant for use primarily
within the corporate security community. Such messages shall not be
released in either written or oral form to the media, the general
public or other personnel..." (The DSAC document was also obtained
by the Northern California ACLU which has sought local FBI
surveillance files.)
* Naval Criminal Investigative Services (NCIS) reported to the DSAC on
the relationship between OWS and organized labor for the port
actions. The NCIS describes itself as "an elite worldwide federal
law enforcement organization" whose "mission is to investigate and
defeat criminal, terrorist, and foreign intelligence threats to the
United States Navy and Marine Corps ashore, afloat and in
cyberspace." The NCIS also assists with the transport of Guantanamo
prisoners.
* DSAC issued several tips to its corporate clients on "civil unrest"
which it defines as ranging from "small, organized rallies to
large-scale demonstrations and rioting." It advised to dress
conservatively, avoid political discussions and "avoid all large
gatherings related to civil issues. Even seemingly peaceful rallies
can spur violent activity or be met with resistance by security
forces. Bystanders may be arrested or harmed by security forces
using water cannons, tear gas or other measures to control crowds."
* The FBI in Anchorage reported from a Joint Terrorism Task Force
meeting of November 3, 2011, about Occupy activities in Anchorage.
* A port Facility Security Officer in Anchorage coordinated with the
FBI to attend the meeting of protestors and gain intelligence on the
planning of the port actions. He was advised to request the presence
of an Anchorage Police Department official to also attend the event.
The FBI Special Agent told the undercover private operative that he
would notify the Joint Terrorism Task Force and that he would
provide a point of contact at the Anchorage Police Department.
* The Jacksonville, Florida FBI prepared a Domestic Terrorism briefing
on the "spread of the Occupy Wall Street Movement" in October 2011.
The intelligence meeting discussed Occupy venues identifying
"Daytona, Gainesville and Ocala Resident Agency territories as
portions ...where some of the highest unemployment rates in Florida
continue to exist."
* The Tampa, Florida FBI "Domestic Terrorism" liaison participated
with the Tampa Police Department's monthly intelligence meeting in
which Occupy Lakeland, Occupy Polk County and Occupy St. Petersburg
were discussed. They reported on an individual "leading the Occupy
Tampa" and plans for travel to Gainesville for a protest planning
meeting, as well as on Veterans for Peace plans to protest at
MacDill Air Force Base.
* The Federal Reserve in Richmond appears to have had personnel
surveilling OWS planning. They were in contact with the FBI in
Richmond to "pass on information regarding the movement known as
occupy Wall Street." There were repeated communications "to pass on
updates of the events and decisions made during the small rallies
and the following information received from the Capital Police
Intelligence Unit through JTTF (Joint Terrorism Task Force)."
* The Virginia FBI was collecting intelligence on the OWS movement for
dissemination to the Virginia Fusion Center and other Intelligence
divisions.
* The Milwaukee division of the FBI was coordinating with the
Ashwaubenon Public Safety division in Green Bay Wisconsin regarding
Occupy.
* The Memphis FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force met to discuss
"domestic terrorism" threats, including, "Aryan Nations, Occupy Wall
Street, and Anonymous."
* The Birmingham, AL division of the FBI sent communications to HAZMAT
teams regarding the Occupy Wall Street movement.
* The Jackson, Mississippi division of the FBI attended a meeting of
the Bank Security Group in Biloxi, MS with multiple private banks
and the Biloxi Police Department, in which they discussed an
announced protest for "National Bad Bank Sit-In-Day" on December 7,
2011.
* The Denver, CO FBI and its Bank Fraud Working Group met and were
briefed on Occupy Wall Street in November 2011. Members of the
Working Group include private financial institutions and local area
law enforcement.
* Jackson, MS Joint Terrorism Task Force issued a "Counterterrorism
Preparedness" alert. This heavily redacted document includes the
description, "To document...the Occupy Wall Street Movement."
You can read the FBI - OWS documents here where we have uploaded them in
searchable format for public viewing.
<http://www2.justiceonline.org/site/R?i=yXNu2hggkS1sWlN28nAhCg>
The PCJF filed Freedom of Information Act demands with multiple federal
law enforcement agencies in the fall of 2011 as the Occupy crackdown
began. The FBI initially attempted to limit its search to only one
limited record keeping index. Recognizing this as a common tactic used
by the FBI to conduct an inadequate search, the PCJF pressed forward
demanding searches be performed of the FBI headquarters as well as FBI
field offices nationwide.
The PCJF will continue to push for public disclosure of the government's
spy files and will release documents as they are obtained.
Sat Dec 22, 2012 8:28 pm (PST) . Posted by:
"waterwebb@aol.com"
It
might be important to consider putting the Peace Movement under the same
lens you are looking through in relation to the organizations you mention.
It is a stretch to fault Ghandi for the current state of India. Just as it
is a stretch to fault the Founding fathers for the current state of the
United States.
The conduct of an organization or government is a direct reflection of the
actions of the people in the organization or government and the actions of
the people they serve at the time and place they are being judged.
Respectfully,
Webb Nichols
lens you are looking through in relation to the organizations you mention.
It is a stretch to fault Ghandi for the current state of India. Just as it
is a stretch to fault the Founding fathers for the current state of the
United States.
The conduct of an organization or government is a direct reflection of the
actions of the people in the organization or government and the actions of
the people they serve at the time and place they are being judged.
Respectfully,
Webb Nichols
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When The Blues Was Dues- Blind Willie McTell’s “Rollin’ Mama Blues”
…They called her Magnolia May(although he later found out, after he had gone to hell and back with her, had done every hellish thing to and with her, and had gone to heaven with her too he wanted everybody to know, her real name was Anna Sue Barkin), the highest yella gal in Ma Stover’s negro whorehouse over on Blanchard Street (although Ma kept a few off-hand just off farm white girls, all corn-fed and dewy, dope-heads by the time Ma got them , just to mix things up but you had to know Ma, or special request those girls, and Ma kept them on a separate floor, a separate floor from the high yella girls that Ma was known far and wide for), the girl every guy, especially those foolish college boys from over at State University craved when their monthly daddy checks came in. And Jackson Barr, Junior was no different, no different once one of his frat brothers clued him in to Ma’s, to high yella girls, and to the best way to spent that daddy check walking daddy right over to Ma’s. Right over to Ma’s after stopping at Mr. Henry’s in town for some fine old whiskey, scotch and rye, store bought, and some, uh, cocaine, not store bought, although legal, not store bought since other drugstore establishments insisted on a genuine prescription from a genuine doctor. Mr. Henry had no such scruples.
And so Jackson Barr headed (with other frat brothers but they don’t count in this story so we will move on) over to Ma’s one hot Saturday night in early June just before the semester was over at State, entered her establishment, took out some walking daddy money, all green and pure, handed his liquors to the man servant and declared to Ma, declared calmly but forthrightly, that he wanted the highest yella girl in her fine establishment. Hence Magnolia May.
And hence seven kinds of hell and heaven once they had gone up to her room for the very first thing she did was to drop down her dress to show off her high yella fine wares, all curves and cuddles in the right places, and boldly, not whore boldly although that was her professional, but hey daddy you are in for a treat boldly, asked Jackson Barr, Junior just exactly how did he want his rolling done (what kind of sex, no rough stuff to mar her body, did he want for the clueless). After a finger of scotch and two fingers of coke which he invited her to share with him they jumped on her big fluffy bed and she gave him some head, spitting his jimson into her handkerchief after he exploded in her mouth.
Two weeks and five hundred miles later Jackson Barr, Senior, Ma Stover, seventeen officials from State, the Texas Rangers, and who knows what else, found Jackson Barr, Junior and Magnolia May in the Imperial Hotel in Austin, Texas after about a million odd-ball incidents, a million liquor drinks, many bindles of dope, and after about twenty pages from the Karma Sutra the ways that Jackson Barr, Junior wanted his rolling done. They hushed it all up by agreement, and gave Magnolia May a one- way ticket to Chicago, or else. But always after, even with his wife, all curves and cuddles, all white curves and cuddles, sleeping right beside and willing to do some rolling of her own, he kept thinking of that June time, and about maybe heading to Chicago on business some time.
Blind Willie McTell Rollin' Mama Blues Lyrics
Now tell me baby
How do you want your rollin' done?
Now tell me baby
How do you want your rollin' done?
I want you to start in the mornin' baby
And roll me with the settin' of the sun
Oh, roll me on my belly baby
Feed me with your chocolate drop
Oh, roll me on my belly baby
Feed me with your chocolate drop
I want you to keep it all for your daddy
And don't give nobody none
Want you to roll me baby
Like the baker rolls his dough
Want you to roll me baby
Like the baker rolls his dough
And if you get some of my lovin'
You won't want your rider no more
Oh, reel and rock me baby
Honey, if it's all night long
Oh, reel and rock me baby
Honey, if it's all night long
You don't have to worry about your lovin'
I'm a deep sea diver and I don't go wrong
Won't you come back baby?
You got me all confused
Won't you come back baby?
You got me all confused
That's why I'm singin'
These barrel house woman blues
Bradley Manning takes stand, puts military captors on trial
digg
By Nathan Fuller, December 23, 2012.
Spanning nearly three weeks and comprising more than a dozen witnesses, the Article 13 hearing on the defense’s motion to dismiss based on unlawful punishment was PFC Bradley Manning’s longest pretrial hearing yet. The defense has moved to throw out all charges against the WikiLeaks whistleblower, arguing that the military has violated the UCMJ’s Article 13, which prohibits pretrial punishment. Through testimony from prison guards, high-ranking military officials, and Bradley himself, defense lawyer David Coombs chronicled Bradley’s eleven months in solitary confinement, focusing on the nine months in the Quantico Marine brig, from July 29, 2010, through April 20, 2011.
Earlier in July, three-star General George Flynn emailed the Quantico chain of command, notifying officials of Bradley’s impending arrival and explaining that he believed Bradley was a suicide risk. When Manning got to the brig, he was evaluated and determined to be need only medium security. But the Duty Brig Supervisor, likely influenced by Gen. Flynn’s directive, overrode that determination and placed Manning on Suicide Risk (SR) watch. From then on, Manning was on SR or Prevention of Injury (POI) watch throughout his entire imprisonment at Quantico. Gen. Flynn was updated weekly on Manning’s treatment.
At Quantico Bradley was in a 6×8 ft cell for 23 hours a day, got only 20 minutes of sunshine daily for his first six months, had to eat alone in his cell, wore metal shackles on his arms and legs whenever he left it, couldn’t talk to other detainees, was monitored verbally every few minutes and visually around the clock, and had to ask guards to use books, soap, or even toilet paper.
Coombs described the impact of these conditions in his only public appearance, on December 3: “Brad’s treatment at Quantico will forever be etched into our nation’s history as a disgraceful moment in time.”
Bradley details abusive confinement
We finally heard the young Army private we’ve been supporting for two and a half years, who turned out to be articulate, intelligent, and remarkably poised for someone who survived nearly a year of solitary confinement. On the stand for several hours over two days, Bradley chronicled his experience since arrest, from his harrowing trauma in Kuwait, to his exhaustive efforts to end his restrictive conditions in Quantico, to his much-improved status in Fort Leavenworth.
In Kuwait, Bradley was isolated in a tiny metal cell, which made him feel disoriented and “trapped.” He couldn’t talk to anyone else, and no one explained what was happening to him. Forced to sleep during the day and work at night, and placed in a “shark attack environment” by guards, in which they give conflicting orders so that everything he did was wrong, Bradley had an anxiety attack and passed out.
“I had pretty much given up,” he said. “I thought I was going to die in this 8×8 animal cage.”
Guards said they found two nooses in his cell, only one of which Bradley vaguely remembered making. He said he’d known a noose was futile, as he had no place to hang it. When he boarded a plan to leave Kuwait, he prayed he was going to Germany but expected to land in Guantanamo.
When he got to the Marine brig in Virginia, the psychiatrist at the time, Captain William Hocter, recommended Bradley be placed on SR for his first week, to monitor his acclimation. He then advised reducing his status to POI on August 6, 2010, but brig commander and Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) James Averhart didn’t reduce it until August 11. CWO Abel Galaviz, head of Marine corrections, later testified that this delay was a violation of Navy regulations.
Bradley was then placed on POI, so he endured nearly all of the restrictions imposed on suicidal detainees – the only discernable difference being that Suicide Risk required the psychiatrists’ approval. Still a maximum-security detainee, he remained on lockdown, with metal shackles for his 20 minutes of daylight, and as a “self-harm risk” he still had to ask for the most basic personal items.
A fluorescent light blared into Bradley’s cell at all times, but at night he wasn’t allowed to cover his face. If guards couldn’t see his face, they’d wake him up – often multiple times a night.
Quantico ignored mental health professionals
Nearly every single week, brig psychiatrists implored top officials to remove Bradley from these conditions, avowing both that there was no psychiatric need for his isolation and that his treatment was worsening his mental health. Yet Quantico’s brig commanders – first Chief Warrant Officer James Averhart, then CWO Denise Barnes – kept him on SR or POI, both maximum-security classifications, for his entire time in the brig.
In mid-January, Cpt. Hocter pressed Quantico’s Battalion Commander, Col. Oltman, on the matter, saying Bradley had no mental-health reason to remain on POI and that he’d never been ignored like this before. Col. Oltman told him to make his recommendation and that Bradley would be kept on POI regardless. Testimony on his wording varies, but Cpt. Hocter recalls Col. Oltman saying that Bradley would be kept on POI “indefinitely.”
CWOs Averhart and Barnes cited Bradley’s trauma in Kuwait, “poor” communication with brig staff, “erratic” behaviors in his cell, and the severity of his charges to justify keeping him on POI. But these issues were all examined, reviewed, and cleared by mental health professionals. Guards said his behaviors were normal for a bored prisoner, and doctors said he wasn’t at risk to himself.
In countering the defense’s motion, government prosecutors focused almost solely on Bradley’s physical health – noting that Bradley did make it to his court-martial alive, and at one point asking Quantico guards, “Did he get three hot meals a day?” – evincing serious negligence of Bradley’s psychological well-being.
This negligence echoed that of Quantico officials. Guards monitored every Bradley’s move, but did they ever care how isolation affected him? Didn’t they realize that forcing him to ask for toilet paper was dehumanizing.
In his closing argument, Coombs said, “If the Quantico brig could have put him in a straightjacket in a padded room and not had anybody complain, they would have.”
CWO Barnes said that if something happened to Bradley, she wouldn’t have retirement options to fall back on. GYSGT Blenis said that if Bradley hurt himself, it’d be Blenis facing a court-martial.
“They were more concerned with how [their actions] would appear to the Marine Corps and Quantico than if Manning was at risk of self-harm,” Coombs said.
This negligence of Bradley’s mental health is tantamount to punishment. Bradley endured nine months of solitary confinement, weeks of that including forced nudity at night, regardless of the guards’ intentions. If Judge Denise Lind recognizes this punishment, she’ll have to dismiss Manning’s charges, or at least give him credit for sentencing.
Bradley Manning in court, with the suicide blanket he was forced to use. Sketch by Clark Stoeckley.
Earlier in July, three-star General George Flynn emailed the Quantico chain of command, notifying officials of Bradley’s impending arrival and explaining that he believed Bradley was a suicide risk. When Manning got to the brig, he was evaluated and determined to be need only medium security. But the Duty Brig Supervisor, likely influenced by Gen. Flynn’s directive, overrode that determination and placed Manning on Suicide Risk (SR) watch. From then on, Manning was on SR or Prevention of Injury (POI) watch throughout his entire imprisonment at Quantico. Gen. Flynn was updated weekly on Manning’s treatment.
At Quantico Bradley was in a 6×8 ft cell for 23 hours a day, got only 20 minutes of sunshine daily for his first six months, had to eat alone in his cell, wore metal shackles on his arms and legs whenever he left it, couldn’t talk to other detainees, was monitored verbally every few minutes and visually around the clock, and had to ask guards to use books, soap, or even toilet paper.
Coombs described the impact of these conditions in his only public appearance, on December 3: “Brad’s treatment at Quantico will forever be etched into our nation’s history as a disgraceful moment in time.”
Bradley details abusive confinement
We finally heard the young Army private we’ve been supporting for two and a half years, who turned out to be articulate, intelligent, and remarkably poised for someone who survived nearly a year of solitary confinement. On the stand for several hours over two days, Bradley chronicled his experience since arrest, from his harrowing trauma in Kuwait, to his exhaustive efforts to end his restrictive conditions in Quantico, to his much-improved status in Fort Leavenworth.
In Kuwait, Bradley was isolated in a tiny metal cell, which made him feel disoriented and “trapped.” He couldn’t talk to anyone else, and no one explained what was happening to him. Forced to sleep during the day and work at night, and placed in a “shark attack environment” by guards, in which they give conflicting orders so that everything he did was wrong, Bradley had an anxiety attack and passed out.
“I had pretty much given up,” he said. “I thought I was going to die in this 8×8 animal cage.”
Guards said they found two nooses in his cell, only one of which Bradley vaguely remembered making. He said he’d known a noose was futile, as he had no place to hang it. When he boarded a plan to leave Kuwait, he prayed he was going to Germany but expected to land in Guantanamo.
When he got to the Marine brig in Virginia, the psychiatrist at the time, Captain William Hocter, recommended Bradley be placed on SR for his first week, to monitor his acclimation. He then advised reducing his status to POI on August 6, 2010, but brig commander and Chief Warrant Officer (CWO) James Averhart didn’t reduce it until August 11. CWO Abel Galaviz, head of Marine corrections, later testified that this delay was a violation of Navy regulations.
Bradley was then placed on POI, so he endured nearly all of the restrictions imposed on suicidal detainees – the only discernable difference being that Suicide Risk required the psychiatrists’ approval. Still a maximum-security detainee, he remained on lockdown, with metal shackles for his 20 minutes of daylight, and as a “self-harm risk” he still had to ask for the most basic personal items.
A fluorescent light blared into Bradley’s cell at all times, but at night he wasn’t allowed to cover his face. If guards couldn’t see his face, they’d wake him up – often multiple times a night.
Quantico ignored mental health professionals
Nearly every single week, brig psychiatrists implored top officials to remove Bradley from these conditions, avowing both that there was no psychiatric need for his isolation and that his treatment was worsening his mental health. Yet Quantico’s brig commanders – first Chief Warrant Officer James Averhart, then CWO Denise Barnes – kept him on SR or POI, both maximum-security classifications, for his entire time in the brig.
In mid-January, Cpt. Hocter pressed Quantico’s Battalion Commander, Col. Oltman, on the matter, saying Bradley had no mental-health reason to remain on POI and that he’d never been ignored like this before. Col. Oltman told him to make his recommendation and that Bradley would be kept on POI regardless. Testimony on his wording varies, but Cpt. Hocter recalls Col. Oltman saying that Bradley would be kept on POI “indefinitely.”
CWOs Averhart and Barnes cited Bradley’s trauma in Kuwait, “poor” communication with brig staff, “erratic” behaviors in his cell, and the severity of his charges to justify keeping him on POI. But these issues were all examined, reviewed, and cleared by mental health professionals. Guards said his behaviors were normal for a bored prisoner, and doctors said he wasn’t at risk to himself.
In countering the defense’s motion, government prosecutors focused almost solely on Bradley’s physical health – noting that Bradley did make it to his court-martial alive, and at one point asking Quantico guards, “Did he get three hot meals a day?” – evincing serious negligence of Bradley’s psychological well-being.
This negligence echoed that of Quantico officials. Guards monitored every Bradley’s move, but did they ever care how isolation affected him? Didn’t they realize that forcing him to ask for toilet paper was dehumanizing.
In his closing argument, Coombs said, “If the Quantico brig could have put him in a straightjacket in a padded room and not had anybody complain, they would have.”
CWO Barnes said that if something happened to Bradley, she wouldn’t have retirement options to fall back on. GYSGT Blenis said that if Bradley hurt himself, it’d be Blenis facing a court-martial.
“They were more concerned with how [their actions] would appear to the Marine Corps and Quantico than if Manning was at risk of self-harm,” Coombs said.
This negligence of Bradley’s mental health is tantamount to punishment. Bradley endured nine months of solitary confinement, weeks of that including forced nudity at night, regardless of the guards’ intentions. If Judge Denise Lind recognizes this punishment, she’ll have to dismiss Manning’s charges, or at least give him credit for sentencing.
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